


The Life of a Florist

by InvaderSamm



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Depression, F/F, Gendefluid Character, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Trans Characters, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-02 08:05:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4052626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvaderSamm/pseuds/InvaderSamm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave finally breaks out of the DJing/Clubbing traditions of Striders in a town where Family is everything. He gets a job as a florist, moves out to his own apartment, and quickly rises to the rank of Manager because of how well he handles everything. But, he's not the only one on the block, and he soon finds that out when he locks eyes with a pair of bright, striking blue ones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bright, Blue Eyes

David Elisabeth Strider is a man of many words and few expressions. Coming from a family where your stolid expression means the world, he really had no outlet for what he really wanted to do. Music was wondrous, and making his own sounded like an amazing idea, no one could argue that. But, when your three older brothers all do the exact same thing and you have another passion that you love even more so than music, well, the latter sounds the most appealing.

Which leads us to where he currently found himself. In the Strider living room surrounded by his three elders. Bro was standing to his left, his arms crossed and his face not looking toward Dave. Dirk was in front of him, directly across the coffee table, seated in a recliner with his legs crossed and his fingers tapping each other atop that. D was to his right, sitting on the couch with one arm draped over the back, one on the rest, and his legs spread fairly wide. None of their expressions were readable. And, though none but Dirk were looking directly at him, he knew he was on trial.

"So you want us to help you get your own apartment," Bro voiced out.

Dave groaned, shoving his face in his hands. "For the thirteenth time today, yes!"

D leaned back even further into the beige couch beneath him, raised a hand to scratch at his scruff-beard, and hummed. He was facing the ceiling, more than likely in thought over the information given. “You’re saying that you have a job already that you start next week on. What is it?”

It was with this question that broke Dave’s pokerface. He felt his eyes widen- though it wasn’t as though the others could see that much- and his mouth open and close like a fish out of water. Heat filled his cheeks quickly and he looked down to his lap, one leg jittering a lot. He wanted to just brush the question off, but it didn’t look like that was going to be all too possible. He mumbled under his breath his current occupation, hoping they wouldn’t press the issue any further. Unfortunately, hope was not on his side.

“What was that?” Bro asked, now completely facing his brother.

A groan came from the youngest Strider. “I got a job at the flower shop… Floral Time.”

Dirk snickered loudly and D smirked, though thankfully Bro remained as stoic as ever. “So you seriously want to cut flowers for a living.”

Dave shoved his face back in his hands and nodded.

“What,” a snort of laughter interrupted Dirk, “what made you want to ditch music?”

D, apparently, jumped on this train of thought and leaned forward. “Yeah, you know the Strider lineage. Bro and Dirk are bouncers and clubbers and it was supposed to be you and I making the music and DJing. You just want to leave the family business-”

“Yes,” Dave interrupted, finally gathering his composure, “yes I do. It’s either make music you guys like and live with people breathing down my neck constantly or do something else I love and escape from this hell hole.”

It was quiet for a long time, and Dave thought it was finally over. That is, until Dirk decided to speak up once more. “What’s so great about flowers anyway?”

The youngest Strider rolled his eyes behind his shades, no longer caring about sounding embarrassing. After all, it wasn’t like these three haven’t seen him at his worst. “There’s a meaning behind each type of flower, each color, and each meaning is so starkly different from each other. These flowers bloom no matter what’s against them- coming up between concrete slabs to show that no matter how hard some heavy-ass motherfucker is holding you down, you can still rise up like a Shakespearean play’s popularity in the 17th century.”

D shook his head silently, a smirk playing on his lips once more. “You’re really something, kid.”

“Hey, shut it. You fuckin asked.”

Bro nodded and cocked a hip. “And if this fails?”

Dave grumbled loudly, wringing his hands in his lap as though he already regrets the words about to leave his mouth. This is, in fact, true. “If it fails… I’ll come back and admit you were right.”

“And I get all of our AJ for at least a week,” D popped off with.

Dave grumbled again and took a breath to combat it, though brushed it off. A week was a long time, but he had a feeling that if he tried to argue it, that week would turn into a month. “Fine.”

* * *

Dave stood in the center of his new, and finally unboxed, apartment with his arms crossed over his chest. He, knowing he was away from anyone bothering him, let a small smile slip. It was a simple, open flat, but to Dave it was the epitome of freedom. He had saved up enough for furnishings but not enough for the down payment or first month’s rent, so obviously that was what his brothers helped him cover.

At the furthest back portion of the flat was his queen-sized bed, covered with black silk sheets, a fluff red comforter, and matching pillows. At either side of the bed were large speakers. Further down were his turntables, the wires all neat and organized for once in his life, and directly behind that was a blackout curtain hanging from the ceiling. His kitchen was directly behind him, and while he didn’t have many dishes, he certainly had enough for himself. And the packages of ramen in his cabinets.

In front of him was the black and gold long table he had gotten along with the six chairs it came with. And, in front of that was the far wall, aligned from side to side with ten windows to let light in. To his right was the living area, where five bean bag chairs were stationed in front of a large, plasma screen television and all of his game consoles he had bought over the years.

The thing he liked most about his new place, however, was the amount of light that was coming in. It was perfect for the few houseplants he had around the place.

Thank goodness his brothers actually agreed to help him out. If not, the mostly-barren apartment would have been even more barren, because he would have left one way or another.

He casually walked over to his playstation, picked up his headset, turned on the console and plopped down in one of the bean bag chairs he had gotten. While the disc was loading, he turned the headset on and waited in a very impatient manner for his favorite video game to load up. Soon enough, he had it clicked on and the title was across the screen while it tried reaching the servers- Homestuck.

He saw his character- finally having ascended the echeladder to God Tier level ½ SwordKind Paragon- standing in the middle of the Skaia battlefield with mobs all around. It was then that he decided that he would no longer quit mid-quest in a mob field. Soon enough, right as he was beginning to feel overwhelmed, a blast of purple took out a few of the ones that had ganged up on him.

“ _You could have sent me a message saying that you were on instead of having your character die a few hundred times._ ”

Dave smirked at the voice coming from his headset. “Rose, calm down, I would have gotten it eventually and you know that.”

“ _Of course, Dave. Just join the party so we can split experience. Why is is absurdly quiet on your end? I thought my cousins didn’t work until later?_ ”

“Oh yeah,” he said casually, slamming his thumb down on the X button a few times before hitting the O button for a time-skip teleporting move, “I made out like fucking E.T. and took off on a magical bike with some random ass kid and he’s currently trying to help me find my way home.”

“ _So you moved out?_ ”

“Sure did,” he said. The line was quiet for a while longer while they fought some more mobs off. “Hey, get back here and use that light-beam-heal thing you have. I’m gonna tank these assholes.”

“ _Dave, we both know you can’t tank with a Knight. You need an Heir, Mage, Bard, or Maid to tank._ ”

“I got this, man, just cover my ass while I change equipped skills,” he said hurriedly hit the select button to do just that.

“ _Goddammit Dave give me more warning than that next time. Anyway, did you get the job at Floral Times?_ ”

“Yeah, I did,” he said, adjusting his skill set. “Aradia says I’ll start tomorrow but I’m starting in the back first. I mean, it makes nine kinds of hella sense but wouldn’t it also make sense- I’m done by the way- to put my gorgeous ass behind the counter as a bait for people so come and buy more?”

“ _I can’t tell if you’re being serious or if you’re just being the asshole I know._ ”

“Little bit of both.”

For the next thirty minutes or so, the cousins simply shouted commands at one another to beat the quest needed for the game. Neither levelled up from how high they were already, but Dave was damned close to doing so. He suggested they go on a raid on Prospit, which Rose suggested they should get more players first, and he agreed. It ended up being about two in the morning when the two finally got offline for bed- which he admitted he’d probably regret in the morning.

* * *

Dave wiped his dirty hands on his pseudo-apron, the mulch and soil trying hard to stick to his hands. He was told to use gloves for the job, but they had obstructed him instead of helping him. Of course, he regretted the decision to work bare-handed, but this routine happened literally every single day he had to work in the back.

Aradia, his boss and the owner of the store, had liked his work ethic and not only have him a big raise but also boosted him to Manager in the three months he had been working here. Of course, that boost in position only came today. They had gotten a new coworker by the name of Tavros, who apparently wanted to do the work in the back, so Dave got to move to the front. Well, tomorrow he would.

A very tanned hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked over to see his Chinese boss, a broad smile on her face. “At least now you don’t have to waste any time after work washing your hands!”

He smirked and nodded, flipping his blond hair out of the way. “Yeah, I guess that’s one good thing. So I guess you’re here to tell me to hurry my fine ass up?” he asked teasingly.

She laughed loudly. “That’s one way to put it~,” she cooed, reaching into her back pocket and placing a key attached to a red spiral wire bracelet. “You should know how I lock things up by now.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, using his elbow to hit the lever back and turn the water off. “Back of the greenhouse, the left side then the right. The back door of the shop leading into the greenhouse, pull the switch, drop the gates, exit then lock the front door,” he rambled off whilst drying his hands.

Aradia giggled and patted his back. “You got it! My sister’s flight from China lands in about thirty minutes and I need to get to the airport. Lock up tonight and be here at five forty-five in the morning so I can show you how to open.”

“Gotcha. You better leave soon unless you’re planning on going roadrunner on me. Beep twice then take off like a flying fucking bullet,” he commented, tossing the used paper towels to the trash.

Aradia soon left the shop, leaving the young Strider to pack and lock up on his own. He had his shades in his hair, since the greenhouse lamps were off it was extremely dark. As per usual, he locked the doors and flipped the switches by each and every door. After he pulled the gates down and set the switch on those, he turned around to finish locking up the front door. With a bag of his work clothes at his side, he turned and locked the front door, afterward sliding the bracelet on his arm.

It was then that he made the mistake. He turned to his left to see a very broad shouldered, muscled man with messily spiked raven hair and a pair of square glasses slipping down his nose. He was wearing a blue shirt with the breeze symbol on it from the video game he and Rose stayed up playing. His legs were covered by a pair of stonewashed blue jeans with many worn holes in them. The worst part wasn’t even that. It was when that man turned towards Dave.

Thick brows, a lopsided smile showing pearly white teeth, and a bit of a stubble in the goatee area of his chin. But what struck a cord in the Strider were those bright, vibrant, strikingly blue eyes. He barely registered it when said hunk of a man stuck his arm out to shake hands.

“Hey! You must be Aradia’s new Manager?” he asked in a cheery manner.

Dave’s red eyes went down to the arm sticking out for him. A full sleeve tattoo was on what part of the arm he could see from those short sleeves, and he barely pulled himself together to shake said hand. “Y-Yeah. That’s me. Strider extraordinaire, Dave,” he stated in a voice that, surprisingly, held composure.

The man smiled even wider at Dave, whose heart began pounding so hard in his chest. “I’m John.”


	2. Over Coffee

Dave stood outside of the flower shop, his left hand in his jean pocket, his back against the red building, and an almost burnt out cigarette in his right. Lunch rush was leaving the area, meaning it was about time to leave to pester Rose for lunch. The thing he liked most about his place of work was how close it was to other very useful businesses, which is what his eyes were scanning over. Directly across the street from his own place of work was the restaurant Rose worked at, called _Light Hearted_. To his right, directly next to the restaurant, was _Crazy Cuts_ , where one of Rose’s friends he’s played online with worked.

Next to _Floral Time_ , also to his right, was that damned tattoo shop that the hunk named John worked at. _Royal Ink_ , was the name of that place.

He took his final drag off of the cancer stick and tossed the butt into the watery can to his right. He was the one who put the can there so he didn’t have to litter. Or to hold a cigarette butt in his pocket for hours on end. Aradia refused to let any sort of tobacco in her shop, no matter if it was just going in the trash or not.

He exhaled all smoke held in his lungs and looked down the street towards the left. A good six or seven blocks that way was the I.T. department, a club, a casino, and a bakery. No cars were coming from that direction. He then looked to the right, knowing there was a dog park and a farmer’s market that way, but nothing was coming in that direction either.

So, he crossed the street in a relaxed manner, eyes focused on the door to the restaurant across the street and face as stolid as ever. Both hands were now in his pockets even knowing he’d have to use one to open the door. However, when he drew closer to it, Rose opened the door for him with a broad smirk on her face.

“Jade has informed me that you ran off from our friend last night,” she said, nodding back to where this supposed _Jade_ was. The girl had thick, coke bottle glasses, buck teeth, long dark hair, and very tanned skin. Her bright green eyes rivalled John’s in vibrancy, though hers seemed far more innocent than his did.

He cocked a brow as Rose led him over to the girl, waiting only long enough to be in front of both girls to speak up. “I did no such thing. There was just nothing more to say.”

“Daaave,” Jade said, instantly reminding him of the way she was giving orders on their shared video game, “you took off like a bullet. You also looked like you were going to throw up.”

“And I know very well that it is near impossible for you to get sick,” the blonde said, sitting next to Jade and patting the table in an attempt to get him to sit. “So why’d you run?”

Dave huffed and sat down with a plop. “Damn, Lalonde, you could at least buy a man a coffee before delving into his personal life,” he replied snarkily. His cousin rolled her eyes and nodded, obviously wanting some sort of metaphorical scoop to come from him as she made her way towards the coffee maker.

Jade, in this time, took her chance to lean forward. The girl obviously had no idea what the term ‘personal space’ meant when she leaned in far enough to pull a bit of his fringe between her index and middle fingers of her right hand. Then, the dark skinned girl had the absolute gall to narrow those vibrant eyes at his hair. He wanted to pull back, but damn was curiosity one fine date with danger that this Strider-cat would fall prey to. Especially since he takes the utmost best care of his hair.

“Not to burst your bubble, princess, but what do you think you’re doing touching my finely combed beautiful strands of-”

“You have a LOT of dead ends,” she interrupted, raising a brow at him.

He scoffed indignantly. “Rude.”

She chuckled. “It’s true! You need to stop by the salon sometime and I’ll fix you up, no sweat.”

Dave puckered his lips at her and waggled his brows a bit. “Fix me up real good?”

“Dave, please,” Rose stated as she took her seat and placed a cup of steaming coffee in front of him, “don’t run my friend off. This is the only break time we get to enjoy together.”

Pale, lanky fingers wrapped around the handle of the cup. “And you don’t enjoy me enough? Sheesh, why is everyone so rude today?” The coffee cup was then lifted to mouth-level long enough for him to blow off some steam and take a rather hearty sip of the delicious, caffeine laden liquid.

The darker lass decided that moment was opportune to kick the Strider from beneath the table. “Come on, Dave! Spill it! We want to know about John!”

“Ouch! Shit,” he cursed, reaching down low to rub his shin. “Fine, fine, but no more attacking my fine physique, ‘kay? ‘Kay.”

Dave took a breath to begin speaking on it- well, he was about to begin spewing a bunch of nonsensical words around the subject like a greedy politician just wanting the loot- when the door of the cafe opened again. Normally, this wouldn’t have deterred him, but it was the exceptionally loud and familiar groan that drew all of their attention to the blond now entering Light Hearted.

A tall, blonde woman entered, wearing a white shirt with a rather recognizable pink cat on it, a black tank top beneath it, a pink mid-thigh-length skirt, and a pair of black leggings beneath that. Her hair was short, only reaching to about halfway down her neck, and flipped out in reminiscence of a 50’s flip bob. Her eyes were painted with black eyeliner in a cat-wing and her lips were painted in a similar black fashion.

“Roooooooosiiieeee! Help meeeeeee!” shouted the girl as she hobbled her way inside in a rather tired fashion.

The younger Lalonde sighed. “Give me one moment. Sit,” she commanded, pointing to the other side of the table.

“Long time no see, Rox,” Dave said, looking upwards at his still-standing elder cousin. Her eyes opened wide and a bright smile covered her face. He almost immediately regretted his decision to say hello as she threw her arms around his neck and nearly caused the chair to topple over.

“Daaaaaviee!!!! It’s been for-evez!”

He patted her shoulders and she let go, sliding into the chair Rose had previously told her to sit in. “So what brings you here,” came his question in a rather nonchalant tone, now thoroughly thankful for her intrusion.

Jade gave a giggle, obviously knowing where this was going, while the woman in question gave another rather loud groan. “So Dirk told you I work in I.T. down the road here, right?”

“Right.”

Rose cleared her throat as she approached the table, sitting down another helping of coffee in front of Roxy who looked all too grateful. “Do not begin this tale without me here to bear witness. I would love to hear what it is this time.”

“So,” Dave began, “this happens often?”

Jade snorted and rolled her eyes. “The only time Roxy joins us for lunch is when she needs to vent.”

“Not true!” Electric pink eyes narrowed at the black haired girl, who simply shrugged in response. The elder Lalonde took a rather large chug of her coffee, obviously immune to the heat or simply lacking heat receptors in her mouth, and shook her head. “Okay maybe a little. I’ll try to change that in the future,” she said with a shrug.

Rose rolled her eyes. “And, as to what happened…” she pressed forward.

And, again, Roxy’s eyes lit up, obviously remembering why she was there in the first place. “So, like, I work with this Captor dude who is ALWAYS trying to oneup me. It sucks. We’re, like, the two best workers in the place and if we can’t figure something out, then you know your computer is fucked.

“So, like, I get this call from this piss-angry man who is yelling at me telling me that I can’t do shit because I’m a girl and he ‘ain’t lettin’ no woman touch his laptop’. So it pissed me off. I redirected his call to my underling- poor little Jasper- and had him talk for me while I did everything. Got it done no problem.

“But then! This asshole finds out that it was me somehow!” She rolled her eyes and sat back, taking another large chug of her still-steaming coffee. “Bitched me out from hell and back. Called MY supervisor and bitched HIM out for having a girl work for him, and THEN had the fuckin’ AUDACITY to say that he expected better. Like, bitch? I fixed your damn virus you got from your porn habits. Calm. Down.”

Dave snorted loudly but soon regained his composure. Jade looked rather angry, but by the end of the story, she was giving a small giggle, while Rose was simply smiling at her.

“Done, dear?” Rose asked.

Roxy then leaned forward. “Oh, no, not at all.”

Jade sat back, obviously making herself much more comfortable at this point.

“So my supervisor comes in, groaning and moaning and complaining to ME about the headache that was this assholes ENTIRE BEING. Like, I fuckin know I had to deal with it too. Then, he tells me that from now on just redirect them to fuckin CAPTOR who is sitting in his black and piss-yellow striped chair like a smug ass king who just overheard that another kingdom was giving their land over.

“CAPTOR! Of all the douchebags in the office, he tells me to send them to that cup of bee-piss!” 

Dave stretched and placed his arms behind his head, allowing his own cup of coffee time to cool before chugging it like the monster his older cousin apparently is. “What’s so bad about this Captor guy, anyway?”

“Oh no,” Jade said.

“Here we go,” said Rose.

Roxy laughed like a maniac assassin about to take another hit. “Oh, boy, you don’t EVEN know-”

“No, obviously, I don’t or I wouldn’t have asked,” he interrupted quickly, causing her to give a very deadpanned expression. This drew small bouts of laughter from the other two girls.

“Okay, hush smart-butt or I’ma tell Dirk on you!”

Dave rolled his eyes dramatically enough that he was certain that you could tell even without seeing his eyes past his shades. “Like I give a damn what he says. I moved out months ago.”

And, cue her astonished, wide-eyes look that could kill even the most burly of men. However, she was not only his older cousin but he was also gayer than a three dollar bill, thus the effectiveness of her look was zero.

“Wha?! Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

He raised a brow. “I didn’t know you needed to know?”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Of course I do! I need to know so that I don’t throw a surprise party at the wrong house! Duh!”

At this, he simply shook his head. She was soon drawn back to the previous statement on this mysterious Sollux Captor and his annoyance. To Dave, he seemed pretty chill, he just knew exactly how to piss the Lalonde off and did just that at any given chance. Apparently, she pisses him off as well, though, and it’s like some sort of competitive game between the two. At least until Roxy has a bad day, then it’s taken the wrong way nine times over.

The conversation continued on from there, going to Rose’s coworkers Nepeta, Meulin, and Vriska. She liked working with the Grecian sisters, which Nepeta happened to be walking by as she said so and pounced on her with a thank you, but apparently Vriska is a bit much to handle. Jade then shared her few stories of her elder brother Jake who never helps her out. She runs Crazy Cuts with only one other person; Porrim. Porrim was her employer and apparently a fashionista of the highest degree.

Dave eventually took his turn and told his tales about his strange relationship with Aradia in their store, how he recently got a promotion, and how they had just gotten a new guy who already had a rapping battle with Dave. From Dave’s point of view, he won but they’d have to check with Aradia on that. She would later tell them that Tavros’ sick fires completely tore Dave’s down, not that he’d admit it.

Then came the one thing he had successfully avoided thus far. Rose cleared her throat and gave a knowing look to the Strider at the table. “So, are you ready to stop stalling?”

“Fuck.”

Roxy raised a brow. “Wait what?”

“Oh,” Jade perked up and leaned in, “Dave met someone that he swooned hard for last night. Ran from the poor sap and looked like he was gonna vomit.”

“I did not-”

“Oohhh!! Davie has a cruuuush?! Who who who?!!”

“I don’t-”

“It’s actually someone you know fairly well,” Rose interrupted, smirking at her sister.

“Oh! Really?!”

Dave groaned and slammed his head down on the table, leaving a red mark on his forehead. The girls laughed at him for a few seconds, at least, until the door opened and Dave heard a very familiar voice.

“Sheesh! That tattoo took much longer than I thought it would- Oh! Hey guys!”

Dave’s eyes widened and he turned to stone right there, forehead still against the table. Mentally, he was cursing every god known to man, wanting nothing more than to just escape from the situation on hand but he knew Rose. He knew she wouldn’t let him,

“Oh! John,” said the younger Lalonde, “come on over, I want you to meet my cousin.”

Fuck Rose.


	3. From Cool-kid to Giant-nerd

Dave kept his head down against the table, mentally regretting his choice to stay here and, to make matters worse, they pulled John up a chair directly opposite Dave. Of course they would. Jade had scooted over, closer to Roxy, so that John could get in with ease in front of the Strider. Life for the latter officially sucked.

“Oh, your cousin is Dave?” he had asked.

Curse that smooth as hell voice of the raven haired man. As soon as his name fell from those slightly chapped lips, his heart rate picked up dramatically. He didn’t want to look up. He wasn’t going to any time soon, especially since, when he did look up, John would be right in the center of his vision.

“So you’ve already met?” inquired Rose, feigning that she didn’t know.

The man hummed in agreement. “Last night, actually! I’m kind of surprised you’re here today.”

Dave made no notion of looking up nor asking why, so Jade stepped in for him. “Why do you say that?”

“He looked sick,” John answered, causing Roxy to snort a laugh. “No, seriously! He did! I thought it was because I smelled or something for a while there.”

Strider finally looked up and rested his chin on the palm of his left hand, now resting on the table. His right hand lifted the coffee to his lips where he took a large gulp of the warm liquid before setting it back down on the table. “Nah, man, exhaustion. I had mulch all over me and it smelled like cow dung like some rancid kind of roadkill on a hot summer day.”

John made a face and, once again, Dave’s heart rate picked up. That bastard had no right to look so damn cute.

He was like a damn lumberjack, buffer than life for whatever reason, and the ink on his arm was radical as hell. A Legend of Zelda triforce symbol was tattooed on the inner portion of his wrist and right above it, quite a few tentacles were intermingling in a tangled fashion. Above those was a hella dope pipe with a banner with “PIPEFAN413” in the banner. Further up was the Breath symbol from Homestuck atop some sick clouds, and on the shoulder directly was a sort of tribal-esque spiral with lightning bolts coming from it.

And damn did that sleeve look _good_ on those well-defined muscles.

He was tanned, but not too much so. Not nearly as dark as Jade, much darker than Strider and the Lalondes, but still slightly darker than Aradia. His hair was a perfect mess on his head- like, seriously, how the hell did he make bedhead look so fuckin adorable.

And those eyes. The eyes that spoke of untold secrets, excitement beyond measure, a very small and underlying tone of innocence, yet that shade of blue that was more vibrant than that eye-sore color on the color wheel on a computer.

Dave found himself watching him like a hawk. Every movement of that gorgeous mouth that moved the little soul-patch that had yet to be shaved. Every time he got to see a little more of his minor overbite and equally adorable bucked teeth. Every excited shimmer in those blue irises.

He also learned that John was very animated when talking, almost needing to move his hands every time a word fell from his mouth. He was also very gentle and kind, as Dave could tell from how he consoled Roxy, picked on Jade in a way that made _him_ embarrassed because of how bad at teasing he was, and the way he refused to allow Rose to buy him a coffee and offered to pay for everyone’s.

That’s when his eyes landed on Dave’s shades. It felt as though he were piercing right through the sunglasses in order to stare directly into Strider’s soul. Dave felt his heart drop, stop, and lock there like some dumb rap song on the radio nowadays. John’s hand reached out for the glasses and Dave did the one thing he knew to do to make it look as though he _wasn’t_ just staring.

He closed his eyes and acted like he was passed out.

“Dave why do you- _oh_ ,” John had said, the oh at the end of the sentence sounding rather off. Not sad, not happy, but… Something like how one might say ‘oh’ when they saw their favorite character doing something like dumpster diving.

Rose tapped his shoulder but he was making no incentive to show his consciousness. Roxy shoved him and his head fell from his hand, landing on his mug and tipping it over. The last good drink of coffee spilled in his lap, in his hair, on his face, on his shirt and on his arms. Then, Dave shot up and covered his eyes.

“Wasn’t sleeping. Just testing you guys,” he said swiftly. “Where the hell are my glasses?”

But, he got no answer. Everyone had begun laughing at him, but damn did John’s only add to Dave’s infatuation. A low, deep rumbling chuckle with a few snorts thrown in. Like a much more manly version of Jade’s just… Cuter? Was that the word?

Dave then stood to assess the damage and looked down at himself. “Shit, man, there go my pants,” and the girls laughed harder but it caused John to peek up at him almost sheepishly. The lumber-nerd looked both relieved and upset at seeing his pants, and Dave would never ever admit to peeking at him through cracked fingers.

“Here,” John said, extending out a hand, “your glasses. You can come to the back with me, I typically have rose keep a few extra clothes for me back there.”

After placing his shades back on his face he nodded. “Cool.”

Dave followed Mister Muscles to the back where, indeed,  he had a box of his own there. He rummaged through the articles of clothes before furrowing his brows and looking back almost directly at the crotch region of the other. The two blushed quite heavily and John scooted back a bit.

“U-Uh!! Sorry, I.. I just… You’re smaller than me.”

It then clicked in Dave’s head what he meant and he forced himself to remain composed. “Yeah. Ya got any sweatpants? Preferably with those drawstrings that can suffocate a man from the waist?”

It looked like a lightbulb just appearified above the nerd’s head and he started digging once again. Then, confusion hit Dave like a semi-truck.

“Wait,” he said, placing a hand on a now cocked hip, “why do you even have Lalonde acting like a gateway to Narnia?”

John snorted a laugh again and Dave mentally cheered. “Well, ink can seep through clothes and stuff and it stains pretty badly. When the clothes I’m wearing get too inked-up, I have to change or it can cross-contaminate.”

Dave nodded, not that Egbert could see it since he was facing away. “Yeah, that’s what they told me when I got mine.”

And, of course, this caused that giant man-boy nerd to get excited. He turned around, a pair of black draw-string sweats and a, what looked like, white t-shirt. “Let me see!”

Dave held up his hands and raised his eyebrows. “Woah there, Johnny-boy, lets not get too excited and strip me down. I wouldn’t blame you, though. I am pretty fuckin fine.” He reached out and took the clothes from John, who started laughing, and proceeded to unbutton his pants. After he slid the skinny jeans down, careful to to completely de-robe his bottom half, John scoffed.

“How did you fit boxers into skinny jeans?!”

A blond brow raised once more. “Checking me out, are you?”

Blush central was now John’s face. “N-No! I just don’t see how you do it!”

“Swag,” he said as though it were the most serious answer ever. “What the hell do you wear? Briefs?”

And the blush got worse- if that was possible. “...Boxer briefs..”

Dave forced himself to keep composure though he wanted to smile. “Hot.”

After Dave shimmied the sweatpants on, he pulled his black shirt over his head and turned his back on the black haired man. He slid his arms into the arms of the white shirt, but kept it there. On his back was a tattoo of a broken sword going down his spine, a crow on top with its wingspan reaching his shoulder blades. He felt fingers trace the sword down the spinal column of his back and, damn, did he shudder at the light touch.

“It looks a bit like my cousin’s work…” John mumbled.

“Jake? English?” Dave asked, his voice rather quiet since most of his energy was being used to keep his composure.

John let out a small laugh, his hand continuously tracing the ink work. “How do you know him?”

“My-” he cleared his throat when he saw five ladies peeking in through the door, who soon cleared out, “brother has this huge fascination with him. He gave it to me at a party we held before he got shitfaced.”

So Rose, Roxy, and Jade had gotten the Grecian Leijons on their side. Fuck. At this rate, the entire town would know about his crush-at-first-sight before he was even able to make a move. And, a worse thought, is if Dirk or, rather, any of his brothers found out. Or if John found out. Fuck, if John did he’d be branded as a fucking stalker-weirdo who can’t keep anything in his pants and falls for someone he just met. Dave mentally threw all of those thoughts out of his mind. The more he would dwell on it, the more tense he would get.

The silence between the two wasn’t awkward, but when John drew his fingers back Dave slid the shirt on, now both upset at the lack of contact and happy that he didn’t have to force his composure as badly as before. “He’s asexual and aromantic… I don’t feel right being the one to tell you but..”

“You want me to tell Dirk to prevent something from happening?” he asked, getting a nod in return. He also nodded in agreement and a sheepish smile broke out on John’s face. “I’ll tell him next time I see him.”

Dave looked down at his attire, noting the strange slime thing on the front of the white t-shirt and mentally cringed. He didn’t want to look this nerdy. Maybe he’d just wait for his shirt to dry.

“You know I work with mulch and stuff. ‘t’s gonna stain it.”

Mister Muscles shrugged. “And? You needed it more than I do. Let’s get back out there.”

When the two returned to the table, there were knowing glances thrown at Dave and nudges sent to John. Of course the question arose as to why they were back there so long, and the two had no good cover. Dave said they were macking hardcore and almost led to tabletop sex to get Rose and Roxy off his back, but it embarrassed the living hell out of John.

Conversation soon picked up again and all was relatively calm. That is, until Roxy stood.

“I’ve almost exhausted my lunch hour and I still have forever to walk back,” she said, giving a groan and a sad wave, “I’ll need to leave if I’m gonna get there on time.”

“Wait!” John said, standing and walking with her to the door. “I’ll walk you there. So, have you played the new Smash Brothers-” and that was the last Dave was able to hear. The door shut behind them and damn the terrible feeling in his gut.

He wanted to be in Roxy’s place. He wanted to be the one John was smiling at and talking to. He wanted to be the one that made that light blush show on his tanned cheeks. And Dave kept his eyes on them until they were out of sight. Damnit.

A sudden weight on either of his shoulders alerted him to Jade and Rose leaning on him. He glanced to Rose, then to Jade, and noticed mirror expressions on their faces. Smug. Smirk. A knowing look in their eyes.

Dave dropped the composure he had force-held so well and let out a pout. In a vain attempt to try and deter them, he decided to say “So how about we raid tonight?”

To which the girls ignored and, instead, both said “You want him, don’t ya Dave?”


	4. Lunch Break

Dave stood in his bathroom staring blankly in the mirror. He had John’s shirt and pants, washed, on the sink counter and he needed to give them back, but the question was how to go about doing it. If all else failed, he’d just give them to Rose to throw into that box John had in the back, but he wasn’t going to do that right off. No, he needed a plan of some sort. Something that could land him, at the very least, another conversation with the lumber-nerd.

His fingers went to his bottom lip and he narrowed his eyes. Perhaps, now that he had moved out, it was the perfect time to get those lip rings D has banned him from getting. That would have to be saved for one of his days off, though. And again, his eyes narrowed at himself in the mirror.

He didn’t want to think about it so his mind had been wandering off every five seconds, but he needed a plan. Maybe he’d skip lunch and leave them with Rose, but that would mean that John had a choice to come and ask him what was up or just leave it be. And, from what little he knew, Dave was certain he would choose to leave it be.

But, that seemed like the only plan he had time for. The alarm near his bed in the flat began screeching and his red eyes widened. It was time to leave for work but here he was, standing in the bathroom and squaring off with his reflection in his boxers! He raced to his drawers and pulled out a shirt- his Time symbol shirt- and a pair of red skinny jeans and hurriedly slipped them off.

“ _Shit_ ,” he cursed, jogging out of his room with the store key secured on his wrist, “the one day Aradia takes off is the day I’m late to open. Of fucking _course_.”

* * *

At his morning smoke break, he had made sure Tavros was alright to manage for about ten minutes. As soon as he finished getting his nicotine in- because he wasn’t able to enjoy one on the way to work due to having to jog the entire way- he felt much less cranky. It was then that he crossed the street to the cafe.

And as soon as he entered, Rose was right there.

“What are you doing here so early?” she had asked.

He ‘ _tch_ ’d, like one of the tough guys in one of those stupid animes that Dirk and Bro watched. “Shush. I need my lunch to be packed and I need you to put these in that box in the back,” he said, handing her the clothes.

She smirked and nodded. “Why a lunch, if you would so kindly answer.”

He shrugged. “I skipped lunch yesterday, had no dinner or breakfast this morning, and I won’t be able to leave shop. Tavros is taking his lunch break to go to the Farmer’s Market with a few friends.”

Rose then nodded and went to the back to prepare his lunch for him, for which he was very grateful. With this minor moment to himself, he noted that it might be best if he didn’t see John right away. He figured the two could benefit from not seeing each other at a constant pace. While, yes, he wanted very much to see him and talk to him once again, he mentally decided that it would be best to take a very small break.

He leaned against the counter, his back to it, while he waited for Rose to throw him something together. He watched out the window as John opened up Royal Ink and kept a close eye on each one of those well defined muscles. Damn was John a nice piece of eye-candy.

A tap to his shoulder reminded Dave that he was still in the real world.

“So,” Rose started, exchanging the box of food for the money Dave was handing over, “when are you going to tell him?”

Dave froze and shook his head. He stopped and looked at his reflection in the shiny surface of the counter. “Not for a while. I just met him and… I really don’t want to run him off,” he admitted.

Rose only nodded, offering a small smile. “Maybe you’ll be able to sooner than you think.”

He only shook his head and took the food, leaving the establishment without further word. Life sucked, and that conversation only reminded him of that.

* * *

“So, uh, you’ll be okay?” Tavros asked, nervously standing at the door.

Dave only shook his head and brushed it off. “Nah, man, it’s cool. You covered me yesterday, so it’s the least I can do, dude.”

Tavros gave a small smile and a nod before leaving to meet whatever friends he had waiting on him, calling back with an “I’ll be back in about forty-five!”

From then, twenty minutes along, Dave had already handled three customers when he was found messing with his phone at the counter- something he’s not supposed to be doing when a customer walks in. He raised his eyes to see who it was, hoping like hell they wouldn’t say anything to Aradia, when he saw an extremely memorable mop of black hair.

Their eyes met and, again, Dave found himself wondering how John could do that even with the shades in the way. There was an odd silence- tense, not awkward- and Dave found himself questioning everything. Had Rose told him-

“Are you supposed to be on that?” he asked slyly, smirking at the blond, who just shook his head.

“Like you’ll tell. Anywho, whatcha doin’ here?” he asked.

John rubbed the back of his neck. “You know you didn’t have to give those back to Rose yet, right?”

Dave’s heart skipped a beat or something. “Nah, man. I even got that gross mulch stain off of the front,” he said, waving it off. “They might smell like me though.”

“All the more reason to wear it, I guess,” John teased, waggling his brows and chuckling with Dave at the teasing statement. “But, since I’m here, I might as well get a bouquet.”

The blond raised a brow. “Oh? Who for and what color scheme?”

That smile of perfect teeth squeezed at the smaller male’s heart. “My sister. She paid my dad’s bills because he forgot to and I haven’t checked in on him in a while. I was thinking something with blues. We both love the color so,” he said, trailing off a bit nervously.

Dave nodded, escaping back to the back to grab a few pre-cut flowers to bring up front. Once he was back, he motioned for John to come forward to the counter, where he laid out seven flowers.

“So, here’s what I have to work with,” he started, motioning to all of them.  “I was personally thinking something made around this beaut,” he stated, motioning to one of the lighter flowers. “This is a blue hydrangea, nothing too special, but it’s meaning is roughly translated as the giver’s gratefulness for the recipient’s understanding, or something very heartfelt.

“I was thinking this, with some of these,” he said, picking up another flower. “This is a tie dye dendrobium orchid, which meaning could be a number of things; refinement, beauty, classy lady, and so forth. And, if your sister is the Jane I know from my brother, it fits rather perfectly.”

John chuckled and nodded, his eyes showing both amusement and respect. “You really know your stuff! I’d like that, if you don’t mind.”

Dave shrugged, forcing back a blush at the look John was sending him. “When you have a passion.” the door opened making him pause for the briefest of moments, “you know what you’re doing- _what the hell are you doing here_?”

John raised a brow and turned his head to see Aradia walking in with a cup of Starbucks coffee. She laughed a bit nervously. “I guess I’m still pretty used to being the only one working and got worried…”

“Ah,” Dave said, setting the flower down and crossing his arms, “so you don’t trust me.” His tone was teasing, obviously, as he only wanted to get a rise out of her.

But she seemed to play along, giving him a wink. “Not one bit, Davie-poo!~”

Dave shuddered and turned back to John, who had a rather strange look on his face.

“Do you need to go to lunch?” Aradia asked, sipping on her coffee.

He shook his head. “Nah, I had Rose pack me a lunch earlier.”

She raised a brow. “She also told me about last night. And this morning. Lunch break, go.”

“Tavros is out at the Market-”

“Go. Now.”

“ _Goddammit_ , ‘Radia,” he groaned, “at least let me finish John’s flowers.”

John’s expression was still strange, but now it looked more confused. “What happened last night?”

“Nothi-”

“He didn’t eat,” she offered, obviously annoyed with her coworker. “Not yesterday’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or breakfast this morning.”

He groaned, shoving his face in his hands. “It’s not like you think! Shit, man, it’s not like I’m still living with my brothers. I forget this shit without having three assholes nagging me to make it because they’re ‘ _starving to death_ ’!”

The lumber-nerd now looked very concerned. “When was the last time you ate, Dave?” he asked.

Dave groaned even louder and slammed his forehead down on the counter- careful not to squash any of the flowers. He then mumbled an ‘I don’t know’ sound, which made John even more upset- not that the Strider could see what with his face on the counter.

“Aradia, do you mind us going to the back to eat?” he asked.

“Wait,” Dave interrupted, “ _what_.” His tone was not a question, but rather a demand.

The Chinese woman nodded and pulled the gate back to give John the okay to enter the back, which he swiftly did, pulling Dave by the back of his shirt back. “Come on, let’s go.”

* * *

John and Dave sat across from one another at the table reserved usually for Dave, Tavros and Aradia when customers were low. Very surprisingly, both males were laughing freely and talking as though there were no worries in the world. Dave had just finished his crumpets which Rose had made him earlier that day, and John just about spat out the last of his quesadilla that he had made earlier because of laughing at something Dave said.

“But, Dave,” John said, now sounding serious, “just… Call me if you need someone to cook you something.”

The blond shook his head. “I’m not going to make you do that for me-”

“If you can’t remember the last time you ate, it looks like I’m going to whether you want me to or not. I don’t want you to… I want to,” he said, sounding rather determined.

Strider sighed and handed over his phone for John to put his number in. “Just… Text me with reminders. I can cook for myself.”

The buff man looked rather excited about this and saved his number as ‘John’ with a kissy emoji right after. This caused Dave to let out a soft chuckle.

“Oh, wait,” he said, leaving the table to rummage around the flowerbeds and stuff. He then entered the front of the store to see Aradia smirking at him.

“Laughing? Breaking that stoic face?? Are you sick, dearest Davie-poo?!” she asked in a rather sassy manner. The blond looked around to make sure there were no customers and, once he saw the coast was clear, he flipped her off. Once the bouquet was wrapped and ribboned up, he returned to John’s side.

John’s eye widened for a moment and the smaller man would swear to every deity known and unknown that there was a small blush on his tanned cheeks. “Wa- Oh! Jane, right,” he said quickly.

Dave nodded. “Look okay?”

He smiled and nodded excitedly. “It looks beautiful! How much would this be?”

Dave noticed Aradia shaking her head and mouthing ‘nothing’ at him. He never turned his face, so his eyes simply returned to the lumber-nerd’s face. “It’s on the house.”

To which those blue eyes narrowed. “No, how much-”

“No, it’s on the house-”

“How-”

“No-”

“Dave please-”

“ _John_ ,” he said in a stern voice, “ _No_. It is on the house. No questioning it, no debating.”

One of those massive, calloused hands ran through those black locks. “You’re a stubborn ass.”

“As are you,” Dave bowed sarcastically like a Knight to the King, “my liege.”

John huffed. “Goddamn you.”

He lifted his head, allowing his shades to slide down his nose a little to wink at the man. However, the harsh lighting in the greenhouse was almost instantly too much for his eyes to handle and he slid them back up his face.

The two then continued back to the front of the store, John leading the way with a bouquet in hand. He turned back at the doorway to look back at the manager and owner with a small mile. “I’m going to walk down to the bakery to give these to her. I have a note on the door so if anyone comes over would you let them know I’ll be back in about an hour?”

“Will do!” Aradia said, giving him a salute.

He chuckled and exited.

Two customers later- about fifteen minutes- Dave’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked down at it.

“ ** _you are lucky jake was here or else i would not have your number, dork. :p_** ”

Dave smiled shyly at his phone, totally forgetting about putting his own number in the other’s phone. Aradia glanced over his shoulder and giggled, gaining a glare from the Strider.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tease much. But you can give him all the discounts you want.”

He scoffed. “No teasing my ass. Shut up,” he pouted, a light blush covering his cheeks.

Aradia giggled and poked his cheek. “You know you love me, Davie-Poo~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay!! I worked to finish the whole thing so that updates on this fic will be on the regular and I also updated the tags a bit. Thanks for reading and being rather patient! So long as nothing pops up, I plan on having at least one update a day. ~Samm


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